Randy

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Fri Dec 17, 2004 7:49 pm

Yankees might pick up the Unit, Sox lose Pedro. Season is starting to looking up. Johnson is 41. I wonder how many more years he can pitch like he did this year.

Matthew Grieco · **Posted:** Fri Dec 17, 2004 9:22 pm

If the Yanks get him for a two-year deal, I think it'll be money well spent. I mean, the man pitched a perfect game at age 41 against a very good team.

jjmoney62 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 18, 2004 9:23 am

I wouldn't have swapped Vazquez for Johnson. Just a hunch, but I predict Johnson won't be a great Yankee.

wordygurdy · **Posted:** Mon Dec 20, 2004 2:36 am

Johnson isn't a long-term solution, but he did have a great season this year and for all his knee problems, I don't ever recall his spending a lot of time on the disabled list in his career (unlike, say, the man who wore No. 27 for the Yanks this year). I have to say I like this deal, especially because the Yanks didn't give up much to get him. Eric Duncan was blocked by A-Rod, and reviews were mixed on Dioner Navarro.

I would like to see the Yanks start thinking about a young replacement for Posada, though, as he is approaching his mid-30s and the time when he is going to have to make the move to DH.

JJ, I think the possibilities are great for the Yankees to do serious damage to the rest of the league in '05 if Johnson stays healthy--and that looks like a much better bet than wagering on No. 27's ability to get out of bed in the morning--and everyone else in the rotation and the newly retooled bullpen (Felix Rodriguez, Mike Stanton to help reconstruct the Bridge to Mo) performs up to par. Right now the Yanks' rotation is better than the Sox', and the Yanks' bulllpen is probably better than the Sox'.

But the games do have to be played.

jjmoney62 · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2004 8:00 am

Maybe the Yankees are off the hook. The Dodgers backed out of the deal.

wordygurdy · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2004 12:03 pm

Javy Vazquez is Dead Man Walking in the Bronx if he thinks he can come back and pitch for the Yankees now, especially after the second half and postseason he had and the fact that the deal was all but done. Who the heck is he to refuse to take a physical? I didn't even know a player could do that when he was traded--did anyone else here? In all my years as a baseball fan, I have never heard of this happening. His refusal amounts to having a no-trade clause! I'm surprised the commissioner allowed Vazquez not to have the physical.

Vazquez clearly doesn't know his history. He should go back and look at tapes of Ed Whitson in pinstripes circa 1985 and see how that worked out for him.

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